Lets present to brothers second breath!

Everybody knows the feeling when they pant because of the snuffle, when you can’t clear the throat during the bronchitis. These feelings feature marginally what the patients with cystic fibrosis are experiencing when the usual expectorants can’t help. Brothers Dmitriy and Artyom Semenihin need Pulmozyme to breath. Otherwise they will be dying painfully suffering from the cystic fibrosis.

“My two sons are my only hope”, says their mother Alyona Semenihina. Her sons - Dmitry and Artem - were born with a difference of 8 years. When Alyona’s first son was born he was feeling sick all the time and they had visited all accessible doctors, but the doctors didn’t manage to define the diagnosis immediately. The doctor’s verdict sounded horrible: the cystic fibrosis.

The word was unclear and frightening, information about the disease turned out to be far more frightening. The parents pulled themselves up and began fighting. Soon symptoms of asthma, cardiant complications developed. However the boy started school in time. The children with cystic fibrosis hardly ever attend school in Ukraine, but Dima is 16 and he’s still a pupil. All 9 years he’s doing brilliantly and helping his mother at home.
Most of all Dima dreamed about brother. When Artyom was born parents hoped he will be a support for his elder brother. But in some months Tyoma was diagnosed with the same disease.
The cystic fibrosis is the genetic disorder, damaging all the mucin-producing organs: bronchopulmonary and digestive system, reproductive glands. Their secretions become viscous, block the respiratory passages, which causes bacterial growth. The person dies from the infection or the asphyxia.

A few years ago children with this diagnosis died young. Now in Europe and the USA the lifetime of people suffering from the cystic fibrosis increased to 40-48 years, in our country – to 22-28. But to live the average 25 they need lots of supporting medical treatment. Pulmozyme is indispensable and the most expensive of them. It is necessary to find more than 30 000 ₴ every month to provide the boys with this drug. Pulmozyme only can thin the expectoration effectively. The brothers can’t hold out without it for a long time.
We have been fighting this long and we cannot stop, mother tells. I hope we’ll wait till the cystic fibrosis treatment will be found.
Let’s bring this hope to Dima and Tyoma!

Full name: Semenihin Dmitry, Semenihin Artem, 27.03.2000, 19.11.2007

City: Dnepropetrovsk 

Diagnosis: Cystic fibrosis in a mixed form